Hyderabad, June 5: Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency remained an invincible fortress of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen as the party chief Asaduddin Owaisi retained the seat with a record margin of over 3.38 lakh votes.
Owaisi defeated his nearest rival Kompella Madhavi Latha of BJP by 3,38,087 votes to record his fifth consecutive victory.
It was projected by many as a close contest but it turned out to be a one-sided fight. Owaisi polled 6,61,981 votes while Madhavi Latha secured 3,23,894 votes.
Mohammed Waliullah Sameer of Congress party finished a poor third with 62,962 votes. Gaddam Srinivas Yadav of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) polled 18,641 votes.
Owaisi’s victory margin is the highest-ever in this constituency, which has been electing AIMIM candidates since 1984.
Owaisi had won the seat in 2019 by a margin of 2,82,187 votes against Bhagvanth Rao of BJP. In 2014, the margin of his victory was 2.02 lakh votes against the same rival.
This time, the constituency drew national attention with many national media houses projecting that Madhavi Latha, an entrepreneur and classical dancer, will wrest the seat from Owaisi.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also campaigned in the constituency in support of the BJP candidate. Another central minister Anurag Singh Thakur had also held a roadshow in the constituency.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed a public meeting in Hyderabad in support of BJP candidates for Hyderabad, Secunderabad and surrounding constituencies.
Both Modi and Shah had used the word ‘Razakar’ to attack Majlis. Amit Shah had remarked that Hyderabad did not get representation for 40 years. “For 40 years, the representatives of Razakars sat there,” he had said.
Modi had also mentioned the word ‘Razakar’ with the comment that people in old Hyderabad see how ‘Razakar tax’ works here.
In April, Modi had showered praise on Madhavi Latha. He was impressed by the points she raised during the programme ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ on a television channel.
Madhavi Latha had sparked a row with her controversial gesture during a religious procession ahead of the elections.
The police had booked her for hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims for her provocative gesture during Ram Navami procession. She had fired an imaginary arrow towards a mosque during the procession.
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During the polling, she had created another row by asking some burqa-clad Muslim women voters at a police station to show their faces. Police had booked her under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and section 132 of the Representation of People Act.
Asaduddin Owaisi thanked the people of Hyderabad for the party’s historic win. “I thank Almighty Allah for giving us this victory,” he said and also thanked voters, especially women and youth.
“I promise to continue my work and to ensure that Hyderabad’s unique identity is protected,” he said.
The Majlis has won the Hyderabad seat for 11th consecutive term. Asaduddin Owaisi’s father late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi was elected six times. In 1996 he had defeated BJP’s senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu, who later became Vice President of India.
Salahuddin Owaisi opted out in 2004 due to ill-health and since then Asaduddin Owaisi has been representing the constituency.
The delimitation of constituencies in 2008 helped the party further consolidate itself. As three urban Assembly segments replaced the rural segments which were earlier part of Hyderabad parliamentary constituency, AIMIM became virtually invincible.
